Teaching a child their letters doesn't need a curriculum, a big budget or an hour a day. It needs a grown-up, a few minutes and a next step that makes sense.
How to Teach the Alphabet (howtoteachthealphabet.org) is for the grown-ups who help young children, about 3 to 6, with the alphabet: parents and grandparents at the kitchen table, caregivers between naps and snacks, and pre-K teachers with a room full of different learners.
Our guides are short on theory and long on what to do. You will find the exact words you can say, what a child might answer, and one clear next step, so you can try something tonight and see how it goes.
What you will find here
- Getting Started: where to begin, what order to teach letters in, and how much is enough for a three-, four- or five-year-old.
- Letter Recognition: helping children know each letter by sight, upper and lower case, without drills that end in tears.
- Alphabet Activities: games, crafts and everyday activities that turn letters into play, at home or in class.
- Writing Letters: from first marks and scribbles to forming letters and writing their own name.
- In the Classroom: circle-time routines, centers and send-home ideas for pre-K and kindergarten teachers.
Who we are
How to Teach the Alphabet is part of the Kids Learning Essentials family. Kids Learning Essentials makes story-based early learning: 26 alphabet storybooks, one for each letter, plus printables and activities built from the same stories. You will see those books in the ads on this site.
Read How We Write to see what you can expect from our guides, and join the newsletter to get new ones by email.